Alleged sham candidate Olivia Cortes has withdrawn from the recall Russell Pearce election. There was a debate scheduled tonight at 5 pm, but I would assume she won’t be there, although she had previously said she would be.
Cortes notified the Secretary of State's Office Thursday morning that she is pulling out. She had been accused of fronting a sham campaign to pull votes away from Jerry Lewis, who is challenging state Senate President Russell Pearce in the Nov. 8 recall. She was not immediately available to comment.
Matt Robert's, spokesman for Secretary of State Ken Bennett, said Cortes' name will remain on the ballot, but signs will be posted at polling places and telling voters she withdrew. That notice also will appear on the Secretary of State's website.
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Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Burke Monday decided Cortes could stay on the ballot, saying that ballots have already been printed and mailed, and some people have already voted. But, he left the case open, and another hearing was scheduled for Friday over new evidence.
Burke in his ruling did skewer East Valley Tea Party chairman Greg Western, a Pearce supporter who has been helping Cortes with her campaign.
"His testimony that he has no idea who designed, posted and paid for campaign signs supporting Cortes or who paid the professional circulators is too improbable to be believed," Burke said. "The court finds that Pearce supporters recruited Cortes, a political neophyte, to run in the recall election to siphon Hispanic votes from Lewis to advance Pearce's recall-election bid."
Burke said without the support of Pearce supporters, Cortes would have had no chance of qualifying as a candidate or running any sort of political campaign, but he reiterated that the court found no wrongdoing by Cortes herself. He said the courts should not, in most cases, be the final arbiter of the motives political candidates have for running for election.
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Although Cortes has withdrawn, the fact that her name will still be on ballots means some voters may still vote for her, but they won’t count. I don’t anticipate this being much of a problem, because I just don’t see her getting many votes if signs are posted at voting places. The problem will be absentee voters not getting the information. Pearce may have cooked his own goose with this whole charade, although he denies any part of her being a candidate. The major news story all week has been the dirty deeds done for Cortes to be a candidate. Not good publicity for Pearce. I bet we’ll see some spit flying on tonight's debate. Pearce has been positively rabid over the fact that the recall is even taking place. Look for a display of unbridled arrogance.